


Celebrate

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Czernsgiving 2019, Gangsey, Gen, Noah week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: “It’s my birthday today,” Noah told him, quickly biting off theI thinkthat wanted to tack itself to the end.The way Gansey’s face lit up told Noah that today was definitely his birthday now, because Gansey believed it to be so.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26
Collections: Czernsgiving 2019 A Noah Week





	Celebrate

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my piece for the first day of [Czernsgiving!](http://czernsgiving.tumblr.com)  
> Day 1: i was more / make do with less / if i were alive  
> Hope you enjoy it! I love Noah so much <333

Noah loved the pool table Gansey had put at Monmouth. Every now and then, just running his fingertips along the worn green covering would lift his spirits. He was terrible at it, but it never spoiled his enjoyment of it. He was spectacularly awful at it in life, but it had made for a lot of nights out with friends, laughing at himself with them. Gansey found him after school one day, sitting on top of the table and rolling one of the balls back and forth between his hands. 

Gansey dropped his book bag over by his bed and came over, leaning on the edge to peer up at him. “Hey, Noah, you okay?”

Noah wondered what kind of expression he was wearing just then, or if he just looked extra smudgy. Somehow, that effect always made it seem like he’d not gotten enough sleep instead of…well. Considering he didn’t sleep anymore, it was a wonder Gansey wasn’t always asking how he was. On the other hand, part of Gansey’s charm was that he let Noah live his not-life with an appropriate amount of space. It made some things easier and others harder.

“It’s my birthday today,” Noah told him, quickly biting off the I think that wanted to tack itself to the end. He’d caught sight of the date on Gansey’s desk calendar, and it had provoked memories of joy rides, celebratory shots where he wore ridiculous party hats by his own free will. All of them had a faded and indistinct quality, like old photographs where faces and details were blurred. Noah was pretty sure it was his birthday, but he could always be wrong. Time was such a fickle thing when you were a ghost.

The way Gansey’s face lit up told Noah that today was definitely his birthday now, because Gansey believed it to be so. There was something so infectious about the way Gansey smiled when he was truly happy, Noah couldn’t help but believe the sun could rise and set on his command when he saw it. 

“We’ll celebrate,” Gansey proclaimed. “Would you like that?”

Noah lifted the ball he’d been rolling and looked at the bottom as if it would have the answer. “Yes,” he finally said. 

Texts were sent, calls were made. And within an hour, Blue had shown up with an armload of decorations she’d gathered from various cabinets and drawers of fox way. Noah couldn’t explain why, but he felt a little different, more  _ present _ when she set some of the candles out and lit them. Ronan had procured some beer and sodas and snacks. He’d even managed to get his hands on a cake that had some generic sports car on it in blue and Noah felt happy because he’d always liked cars, especially blue ones. Adam came late, after work, and didn’t even shiver when Noah carefully hugged him with his cold, cold arms. 

They played pool for hours and hours, way too late to be up on a school night, but none of them cared. They laughed and told bad jokes, made fun of each other for terrible billiard aptitude, bet on shots that would never land. It was probably the best birthday Noah had ever had, no… it really was. For the first time in this strange and tricky afterlife, he felt  _ alive _ and for not the first time, he wished that these had been his friends seven years ago. What he decided was that this was the best gift he could have gotten, and it didn’t matter if he was a ghost. He was living, and it was because of Gansey, Blue, Adam and Ronan. When they brought out the cake, the candles didn’t have numbers on them. It didn’t matter. He closed his eyes and he wished this could last forever, knowing it was impossible. That’s what you did when you made a birthday wish as a kid. You wished for a pony or a car or a trip to Disneyland, knowing in your heart of hearts that it wouldn’t happen. But there was so much joy in the moment, the magic, that you blew out the candles with everything your soul craved. 

Noah knew they couldn’t have forever, but he’d always lived in the moment before, why stop now?

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me about Noah and TRC over on [my blog](http://oldkingyounggod.tumblr.com)!


End file.
